Aisling Bea is expecting a baby and wants to find out about previous generations before she gives birth to the next. In this week's Who Do You Think You Are? she discovers that her family history is shaped by some of the most significant moments in Irish history. 

On one side it’s a tale of violent tragedy, female resilience, and enterprise. On the other a great grandfather who believed passionately in Irish independence. Aisling discovers that many of her passions, Irish history and culture, feminism, and women’s voices, are echoed in her family history.

On making ther programme Bea said: "It was quite an adventure as I was two weeks away from dropping about 8lbs (my newborn). But also very special as a result. I got to find out so many special things about the generation before welcoming the next one. So I’ll have it to show her which is a privilege I’m so grateful for.

That said it was hard to dress for camera 37 weeks pregnant so I will forever regret the brat yellow jumper I picked up in a gift shop and wore on screen, but let’s just say where we went had sudden heatwaves, wind, and rain in the summer so it was hard to find things to fit a 37 week preggo last minute.

Despite my outfit choice, Iabsolutely loved the experience. I’m so grateful for the amount of work the team put into my familyhistory and to the incredible historians. It was so special to make this episode whilst making anotherbranch in the tree myself.Was there anything you were hoping to discover in particular?

I was brought up pretty much exclusively by women-a big gang of very vocal alpha females. Mygrandmotherwas this really formidable pillar who led farmer protests on horse back and was even one of the first woman in the town to wear trousers! And my Mam was also one of the only two professional female flat race jockeys when I was a kid, so I really wanted to know where this spirit came from."

Who Do You Think You Are? Tuesday, May 20, 9pm, BBC One.